Anyone who thought the age of innovation had reached its culmination with the advent of the internet need only look to the iTunes app store to see that ingenuity is alive and kicking. Every day people are creating applications that meet the needs of consumers and help to make their lives easier. Sometimes you’ll even come across an app that you don’t know you need until you see it. You can find apps that will let you sync up with your home alarm system (if you have the right one) to arm/disarm it remotely (not to mention set the thermostat and control lights and electronics from your smartphone). There are apps for planning a diet and exercise regimen. Do you want to manage a team of workers on a project, figure out the best way to arrange your furniture, or find the best prices for gas in your area? There are apps to help you do all of these things on the go. And if you frequently find yourself on the go for work, then perhaps you could use an application that simplifies the process of tracking expenses. If you’re tired of saving receipts and collating credit card charges into reports, the Expensify app is here to make your expense reports a snap.

Let’s start with receipts, since this is the most annoying aspect of tracking expenses for work for most people. While you don’t necessarily have to save receipts when you use your business credit card, there are times when you’ll have to pay with cash (cab rides, for example) and you’ll definitely want to get a receipt as proof that you paid – at least if you want to be reimbursed by your employer. And what if you’ve been using your corporate card quite a bit for travel and it hasn’t yet been paid by the company? You might have to use your personal funds (via your own credit or bank cards) to pay for meals, lodgings, and so on. Here, too, you’ll need proof of payment. But instead of walking into work with a shoebox full of receipts, Expensify lets you snap pics of your receipts on the spot and then auto-pull the pertinent info (date, vendor, amount of purchase) to add to your expense report, as well as save a copy of the original receipt digitally.

You can also track mileage on the go, either by using your GPS or entering your odometer reading at the beginning and end of each trip to input the exact distance covered. And of course, you’ll want to include any charges made on your corporate card. This is where the app really shines. It is compatible with literally hundreds of financial institutions, including major credit cards (American Express, amongst others) as well as national and regional banks. When you sink up the app with your accounts you can quickly mark any expenses that apply for reimbursement (from corporate cards, personal credit cards, and even bank cards) and add them to your report.

From there it’s as simple as emailing yourself a PDF to print out or sending it directly to your boss for approval. You can even arrange for reimbursement funds to go directly to your checking account. Best of all, you can also use this app for tax purposes (to create a report, complete with receipts, for any expenditure that you didn’t get reimbursed for). You don’t need an MST online degree to tell you that this is one fantastic app. But in case you’re still on the fence, you should know that Expensify can be yours for no expense at all.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this guest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.